Bolivia was a later addition to our trip, but I am so glad we added it. Bolivia has a incredibly diverse landscape, and we were lucky enough to spend time in four distinctly different places. We started our trip in Bolivia by crossing the boarder from the Atacama Desert. We had booked onto a three day tour to the Uyuni Salt Flats, but it would take two days to get there!

After crossing the border, we loaded all of our bags onto the top of the jeep which would be our transport for the next three days. We said hello to our guide, Miguel, and to the other three people we would be touring with. That first day was both busy and bumpy! We did get time at some hot springs, which was relaxing, as well as seeing many lakes with FLAMINGOS and some geothermal activity. We also had our first real experience of being at altitude. Raphael got a few headaches, but luckily I was ok.

The next day we set out early for our day of sightseeing. The jeep was quite cramped, especially as Raphael and I had the back row, and we had to keep shifting positions to avoid getting numb legs! Even so, we still had a good second day, spending time seeing some rock formations, a canyon, another lake and lots of alpacas and llamas!

The last day was the day we had all been looking forward to and it did not disappoint. We had to leave our hostel at 5am (ugh) to get to the salt flats in time for sunrise. It was worth it! It’s hard to describe the feeling of awe you get at the stillness of the water and the reflections of the sky and the sheer vastness of the salt flats, but I can say it was amazing. We had lots of fun taking pictures, including some fun perspective ones (although it wasn’t really the right time of year for them), before heading across the flats.

The drive across was long. At least 3 hours, maybe more. The distance didn’t look that great, but we seemed to crawl towards the mountains on the horizon at a snails pace (the combination of the salt flats being huge, there being almost nothing there other than water and having to drive slowly due to the water). We eventually crossed over and after a couple more stops for pictures, we arrived in Uyuni. The town itself is not that exciting, but the train graveyard was quite cool. We ate a very late lunch, said goodbye to everyone and passed the time in a cafe until our overnight bus to La Paz.

We arrived super early in the morning and headed straight to our hostel. Luckily we were able to check straight in and get some more sleep before exploring. After lunch, we checked out the area around us. We quickly discovered that, due to it being the middle of Carnival, the Plaza Mayor de San Francisco and surrounding area were covered in people celebrating! One of the traditions for Carnival in Bolivia is to spray fake ‘snow’ (pretty much just shaving foam) and water at each other whilst wearing costumes. We mostly managed to avoid being sprayed, but it did mean we missed out on a few of the tourist attractions as well!

We were able to visit the Witches Market, where a range of traditional medicines, herbs and other specialities are sold. It was interesting, but some of the items for sale were a bit weird. On our second day in the city, we took the cable cars up to the El Alto Market. Cable cars are used in La Paz in place of a metro system. It’s a fantastic idea, as La Paz covers an entire valley and walking up would be tiring (especially given the altitude – we got out of breath super quickly!) The market was fun and was a mishmash of stalls. We were able to buy Raphael a second-hand raincoat, but we could also have bought a new bumper for the car, tiles for the bathroom and an electric drill! We had lots of fun exploring and loved the views from the top of the valley!

In my opinion, La Paz is one of the most beautiful cities. So many of the buildings are made from exposed brick and the visual effect is stunning. At night, from one side of the valley, you can see the houses sparkling with their lights on. So lovely.

Raphael celebrated his birthday in La Paz. We didn’t do much – just stayed in the hotel and watched a movie then went out for dinner – but it was an enjoyable day.

The day after Raphael’s birthday, we took a flight to Rurrenabaque, from where we would take a tour of the Amazon Rainforest. We arrived without incident and after checking into our hotel, booked a 5 day/4 night tour with the company Mashaquipe (who I would highly recommend). Our tour would take us to two different parts of the rainforest – the more jungly part and the pampas.

We started our tour in the Madidi Jungle, where we would spend three days. Also on our tour were two German girls (they were only doing four days total, however). Our first stop before arriving in the jungle was a sugar cane mill, where we got to press our own sugar cane juice (it was delicious!) We then carried on up the river to the jungle lodge. It was basic, but very nice and had excellent food! That first day we went for an afternoon walk around the forest, where our guide, Alejandro, gave us lots of information about the different trees and insects. We were also lucky enough to see a tiny Hummingbird and Tamarin Monkeys!

On our second day, we headed out early to the Mashaquipe rainforest campsite. It took three hours of walking to get there, and we saw lots more insects and trees! So many of the trees in the Amazon have some form of spike on them, to stop animals climbing them and eating the fruits before they are ripe! Some of the spikes are like that on a cactus, but others look like ones on a torture implement! Once we arrived at the campsite, set up our sleeping area and had lunch, we set out for another walk. This time we were heading to a nesting ground for Macaws. It’s currently rainy season in the rainforest, but we had only experienced rain during the night. Even so, the ground nearer to the river was EXTREMELY muddy. We all got coated in mud and had to wade through HUGE puddles to get to our destination! We only saw one Macaw when we got there, but it was still pretty cool! We then said goodbye to the German girls and headed back through the mud to the campsite.

After sleeping the night in the rainforest (which was amazing), we had the opportunity to go down the river on a traditional raft. It was a fun experience and, due to the amount of rain, we arrived back at the lodge super quickly! On our last afternoon in the rainforest, we went for another walk. This time we saw about five different kinds of ants. We both like ants more now than when we first arrived in the rainforest! We also saw the remains of a jaguar’s hunt (lots of feathers and some poo!) That evening we went for a night walk. We saw lots of fireflies, which were beautiful and heard a lot of night monkeys (we stood around in the dark for a while as well, which was a bit scary – the darkness just doesn’t get any less dark in the rainforest!) The next morning it was time for our pampas tour!

The pampas tour was way more chilled out than the rainforest. We were basically boated around for an afternoon and a morning, looking out for animals! We were lucky enough to see sloths, caimans, capybaras (eeeeeeee, so much excitement about the huge guinea pigs!), squirrel monkeys, red and brown howler monkeys, so many birds and pink river dolphins. We even got to swim with the dolphins, which was amazing (although a bit scary due to the water being brown and not being able to see what was in the water!) Overall, it was an amazing experience! (If any bird watchers out there want a bird-watching guide contact in Bolivia let me know, our guide was amazing and is starting his own bird watching business).

After the Amazon we had another day in La Paz, before catching the bus to Copacabana on Lake Titicaca. We only stopped there for two days, to visit the Isla del Sol, before carrying onto Peru. The Isla del Sol has lots of pre-Inca ruins to visit, but unfortunately, due to some conflict, only the South half is currently visitable. It still made for a nice day trip – although I struggled walking up the hills due to the altitude! I’m hoping to overcome that soon, so I don’t struggle too much around Cusco and Machu Picchu!

Final words – if Bolivia is not already on your list, add it. You won’t regret it!

We arrived in Puerto Varas, a town on the shore of the Llanquihue lake. On the advice of the person manning the reception of our hostel, we went to a small hill nearby and got a great view of several volcanoes that surround the lake.

The day after, we went down to Puerto Montt to pick up a rental car and immediately headed to the nearby National Park. We visited the Saltos de Petrohué, a series of rapids and small waterfalls of the Petrohué river. Afterwards, we drove to the nearby Osorno volcano. Once parked, we took a chair-lift and then walked up to a beautiful viewpoint.

The day after, we drove North. We stopped in Frutillar for a short visit and to eat some kuchen (a kind of cake that comes from Germany) at Kuchenladen because we got very good recommendation for this one specific place. It was good!

We continued North to lake Puyehue. We stopped for a short hike and a rest in some hot-springs. Afterwards we went to Entre Lagos for the night.

We continued North to Pucon. This town is very much geared towards outdoors/adventure tourism: there are many shops advertising rafting, climbing, kayak, etc. We went to one of those shops to register for an ascent of the Villarica volcano the day after. We spent the rest of the day resting and strolling in the town.

At the hostel, we didn’t get to sleep very well because of noise, but we still got up very early, walked to the tour organiser, picked-up the gear (gas-mask, helmet, ice-shoes, ice-axe, waterproof overhauls, etc.) and got into the van. After a longish drive, we arrived at the base of the volcano. We started the ascent with a short chair-lift. Then we went on foot. It was difficult because of the altitude and the ground: unstable volcanic rocks and ice.

When we got to the top, we had a very good view of all the mountains around. We didn’t stay long because of safety regulations – even though the volcano wasn’t very active and it barely smelled of sulphur.

For the way down, we used luges! It was amazing: beautiful views of nearby lakes and volcanoes, speed, excitement! It was also way less tiring than walking and we were glad for that.

We stayed in Pucon for another day. But we were very tired so we didn’t do much apart from strolling in town and eating ice-cream.

The day after, we drove to Valdivia. This town is a bit out of the main circuit that backpackers follow. I had to use more Spanish as I couldn’t resort to English.

In town, along the river, there is a fish market. The fish merchants throw the guts, heads, etc. of the fish back in the river directly. And, ready to get all that fishy goodness, there are sea-lions hanging around. We spent a lot of time watching them.

In the evening, we went out for food and we tried some of the beers brewed in Valdivia. The brewery is called Kuntsman and, as the name might suggest, it was established by German settlers (who also brought the recipe for the aforementioned Kuchen).

The day after, we drove back to Puerto Montt, returned the rental car, took an overnight bus to Santiago, then a shuttle to the airport, a flight to Calama, and a shuttle to the nearby San Pedro de Atacama. We were exhausted from all that travel – more than 2400km all in all.

From San Pedro, we went on several tours to the nearby desert. On the first day, we went to visit several lakes around. The guide told us about the different minerals and metals that give strange shades to the lakes, about the different birds that live there (including flamingos, but we only saw them from far away), etc. We also got to see a lot of vicuñas: wild animals of the same family as llamas, alpacas, and guanacos.

The day after, we went onto another tour. I ended up providing translation from Spanish to the other people on the tour: an Australian couple there on holiday. The guide drove us to the Cejar del Salta, a small lake that is as salty as the Dead Sea. We floated around and moved somewhat but kind of ineffectually. Afterwards, we went to another nearby lake where our guide, a geologist by training, gave us a lot of information about the mining activity of the region, the formation of the volcanoes and salt-flats, and the living rocks: rocks in which million year-old bacteria are trapped. Finally, as part of the tour, we took an aperitif at sunset.

On our last full day in San Pedro, we rented bikes and cycled to the nearby Valle de la Luna. Between the altitude and the very uneven ground, we didn’t make it to the end of the valley. But we still got to see some impressive desert landscape.

And then, the day after, at dawn we got into a van that is taking us to Bolivia. And that’s for the next post!

We arrived in Ushuaia late in the day and were hit by a wall of cold and rain! It made quite a change to the heat of Buenos Aires! We took a taxi to our airbnb and settled in for the night.

The next day we walked into town to get information on penguin tours and the nearby national park. The central street of Ushuaia is super touristy – catering to the departing Antarctic cruise passengers and those who want to visit the ‘Southern-most city in the world’ (Chile actually has settlements further South, but none of them exceed a few thousand). In the main street you can buy EVERYTHING penguin, cold-weather and hiking gear and lots of Antarctica paraphernalia. We bought a few penguin themed gifts, some new hiking trousers for me and a tour to see the Magellanic Penguins, before heading back to the airbnb to rest before our visit to national park the next day.

Tierra Del Fuego NP would be the first of many places we would hike in Patagonia, and the first place I would use my new hiking boots (bought in Santiago – they work good!) We caught a mini-bus there and then opted to do the two smaller hikes, building up our stamina for longer hikes elsewhere. The first hike was to the point of the park where Argentina and Chile meet. It was a beautiful, windy walk through the forest, alongside a river, then lake. We were grateful for our Antarctica jackets! The second walk took us to the end of the Pan-American highway, and back down to the sea. It was a lovely day, but we were both quite exhausted by the end of it!

On our final day in Ushuaia, we went to see more penguins! I could never get enough of penguins! We took a half day boat trip down to penguin island, stopping to see some sea lions on the way. It was a nice half day trip and the penguins were as cute as always!

After Ushuaia we went to Puerto Natales in Chile, via Punta Arenas (10 hour bus to Punta Arenas, stayed one night, then 3 hour bus to Puerto Natales – we’re racking up our bus hours!) Our main reason for visiting here was to see the Torres Del Paine National Park. We started by booking a one day hiking trip to see the famous peaks of the park at Base Torres, before deciding if we wanted to visit a second day.

The hike to Base Torres was hard. At first I thought we were going to be the last ones there, but we actually arrived second! (Go us!) The way consisted of something like this: car park _/\_/ the base \_/\_ car park. The ups were tiring, but the worst was the last down. I was grateful for the walking poles! Even though it was hard, the view was 100% worth it and we didn’t have too bad weather for it (some days the fog is so bad you can’t actually see the towers!) We hurt for multiple days afterwards, but I would do it again!

The day after the towers we rested and Raphael worked. We also decided we would return to the National Park on the other tour offered, to see more of the sights. We are so glad we did, as the weather was perfect! You know you have excellent weather when the tour guide is taking just as many pictures of the sights as you are! We saw the towers from multiple different angles, as well as visited some lakes (with flamingos), saw herds of guanacos and rheas and a glacier. It was a good day.

From Puerto Natales we headed back over to Argentina. Our final destination was El Chalten, but we had to stop in El Calafate on the way to change buses. Due to the long day of buses and border crossings, we arrived quite late at our hostel.

On our first full day there we decided to do a little ‘warm-up’ hike to a nearby waterfall, which was very pretty, before our big hike the next day to Laguna de los Tres, from which we. would get (weather permitting) a beautiful view of Mount Fitz Roy.

The walk to Laguna de los Tres was just as difficult, if not more so, than Base Torres! But because we are now sporty people who regularly hike up hundreds of metres in an hour, we didn’t find it as tough. Nor did we hurt for as long afterwards! We got super lucky with the weather, having stunning views of Mount Fitz Roy from the view point an hour in to the walk, as well as when we arrived at the Laguna. On our way back to town, we could see rain coming and the mountain was quickly covered in mist!

After a delightful few days in El Chalten, we headed back to El Calafate. Our only reason for visiting this town was to see the Perito Moreno Glacier. We booked ourselves onto a bus for the next day.

The glacier did not disappoint! It has an area the size of Buenos Aires and extends 70 metres above the water level. It also regularly calves, meaning large chunks of ice fall off it and into the water below. We saw quite a few ‘calving’ incidents and were amazed by how loud the ice was! After watching the ice for a a while, we took a short boat ride to get closer. It truly is a magnificent sight!

Our last stop in Argentinian Patagonia, and also in Argentina, was the town of Bariloche. The town has a very German feel, due to being founded by Germans (and later home to some Nazis), and is famous for its chocolate. We ate/drank a lot of that. Also the ice cream. The area around Bariloche is also stunningly beautiful. In the four days we were there we barely scratched the surface and we both want to return in the future to see more of this area.

We had two sunny days whilst there, and we spent the first one taking the short climb up Cerro Campanario, to see the panoramic views of the area. The hike up was harder than expected and sooooooooo dusty. But the views at the top were amazing, with the lakes and Andes and forests all being beautiful in the sunlight.

On our second sunny day we hired bikes and cycled the ‘Circuito Chico’. The way was tough, with lots of ups and downs, but we had some more beautiful views.

We also kept busy on the rainy days! We went ice skating, visited a nearby village, walked up another hill to another view point and visited the Museum of Patagonia. All in all, we kept active between excess chocolate and ice cream consumption!

We are now in the lake region of Chile, having crossed the border for the last time! Despite this region also being a part of Patagonia, we will write about it next time!

We arrived in Argentina by bus. And even though we still have some more places to visit here (our next post will be from Patagonia), we’ve already explored a few cities by now. We even made it across to Brazil and Uruguay, albeit for day-trips only.

Mendoza

We arrived at the bus station in Mendoza and found our way to the hostel. We had difficulties getting enough cash from the ATMs to pay for the hostel because they have high fees and low withdrawal limits. In the end, we used Western Union and it worked OK. The hostel was nice and we got to chat with many people.

Through the hostel, we booked a wine tour: a visit of some of the winemakers around Mendoza. The tour was very informative: we got to see the maturation tanks and barrels and ask a lot of questions. We also got to try some good wines. The region is mostly known for Cabernet but also grows a few more cépages.

The tour also included a visit to an olive oil factory (we also got to try some, as well as other products they do like tapenade and tomato spreads) and a chocolate/liquor workshop (with some more sampling!).

Mendoza being smallish, our new-year’s eve celebration was low-key: all the shops and restaurants were closed. We had planned for that and we cooked ourselves food and shared a bottle of fizzy whilst chatting with other guests of the hostel.

Mendoza has some nice wine and we’ll be looking for some of their exports after the trip.

Cordoba

Cordoba is the second biggest city in Argentina and it was a big change from Mendoza. We spent a lot of time just waling around different streets.

We also went to a few museums. The natural history museum had some good fossils of very big creatures (and kids running around them excitedly), and the fine arts museum had a good selection of paintings housed in a nice building.

Iguazu

Iguazu is a town at the border with Brazil and Paraguay. It’s also, more importantly for us, the place where the Iguazu falls are located.

We went to the National Park of Iguazu. Inside, we walked along paths through the jungle to get to the waterfalls. The waterfalls were very impressive and the boardwalks set up by the park got us very close, right into the deafening roar and the damp spray.

In the park, we also got to see coaties (which look like possums, big rats, or quokas) and some monkeys.

The next day, we went to the National Park of Iguaçu: a similar park but on the Brazilian side (hence the different spelling). There were more people and it was a smaller. But the boardwalks give a different view of the falls and we got to see a Tucan, so it was worth it!

Buenos Aires

We arrived in Buenos Aires and found our way to our hostel. The hostel is located in a hipster part of town with a lot of small restaurants and bars and a lot of big street-art murals. We spent some time just exploring the different parts of the city (each is very distinct) and we enjoyed a lot of ice-cream.

We went on a street-art walking tour in the neighbourhood of our hostel. The guide explained the history of street art in Buenos Aires and told us about the different techniques used by different crews.

For a day trip, we took a boat across the bay and visited the small town of Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay. It’s a quaint town with a lot of old houses, some in South-American-Spanish style, others in South-American-Portuguese style, because the town was under different jurisdictions over its construction. From there you can only see the high-rises of Buenos Aires, the rest of the city is under the horizon.

Back in Buenos Aires, the day after, we went to a Parilla: an Argentinian barbecue. The barbecue itself was placed behind a counter, a bit like a bar has all it’s liquors. On the counter were different pieces of meat. This works much better than choosing from a menu and we enjoyed the meal a lot. They also grill vegetables and cheese, which was salty but good.

We went to another walking tour, this time in Recoleta. The tour started with a visit of the cemetery. There are a lot of famous people burried there, from Saint Martin (who fought against the Spanish for the independence of Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador) to Evita (the most famous first lady of Argentina who oversaw several of the major social reforms of the country). The cemetery was also a good place for our guide to talk about many other things – the local ultra-rich elite living a Parisian life-style, the Spanish, Italian, and more surprisingly, Irish early immigration, etc.

The tour continued in the streets of Recoleta, a posh neighbourhood that looks a lot like the Champs-Élysée. There are old manors and luxury brands. And it finished in Retiro, the commuting centre of Buenos Aires with it’s big old-London-style train station.

On our last night in Buenos Aires, we went to a Tango show. The dancers and musicians were all very impressive. There was also some singing but between the Spanish and the singing, we didn’t understand much.

We’re leaving Buenos Aires, but we know there’s much more to do there. We’ll maybe come back later!

After a few days of warmth in Santiago, we headed down to Punta Arenas to start our Antarctic cruise! The cruise company, Hurtigruten, flew us down there and organised a short city tour. It was quite interesting and made for a BIG change in the weather!

After our short city tour and finding some gloves for me (Raphael opted not to get gloves, as he couldn’t find ones that fit. This later led to him using socks to keep his hands warm on some of our Antarctic landings!) we boarded our ship for the cruise – the Roald Amundsen. She (even with a male name, a ship is always a ‘she’) was a lovely ship, with a few places to dine, a bar, a sauna and an outside hot tub and swimming pool, which we used most days!

Normally Antarctic cruises start in Ushuaia, Argentina, as it is much closer to the Drake Passage. The reason for ours starting in Punta Arenas is because Ushuaia is further along the Beagle Channel than the Fjords. On our first cruising day, we spent around an hour passing these massive hulks of ice, squished between the valleys. It was an impressive sight to see!

Once we had cleared the Beagle Channel, we headed to Cape Horn and attempted to make a landing. Cape Horn is the point in the south of South America where the Drake Passage starts and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet. The water around it is incredibly hazardous, due to the winds, waves, currents and ice, and landings can only be attempted during good conditions. Unfortunately, whilst the winds were in our favour, the swell was not, and it was deemed too unsafe for us to land. Instead we circumnavigated the island before heading across the Drake Passage. I won’t say much about the Drake Passage, except that it is my LEAST FAVOURITE PLACE ON EARTH (much, much, much motion sickness). The only good thing about it was spotting Blue Whales and Fin Whales (two of the lesser spotted whale species) playing in the water around the ship.

After a day and a half on the Drake Passage, we made it to our first stop of Antarctica – Yankee Harbour, on the South Shetland Islands. I was so excited! We arrived on a day when a small number of Elephant Seals were molting and they did not disappoint! Grumpy and noisy, acting like teenage boys, they were very funny to watch! We also got our first sighting of penguins – specifically Gentoo Penguins. These were the type of penguin we saw the most on our trip, as they are quite common in the areas we visited. The colony at Yankee Harbour is around 3,000 strong and we were lucky enough to see them with some chicks! It was a great first landing!

Whilst in Antarctica we would attempt seven landings, each lasting around 1h30. We were told at the beginning of the trip that no landing was guaranteed (as with Cape Horn) and we were only told the night before where we would be attempting to land the next day. On Day 2 we were planning to land at Brown Bluff, a landing site actually on the mainland of Antarctica! Due to the ice, this would be our only attempted landing on the main land.

Fortunately, the conditions were perfect and we were able to land on the beach there! Brown Bluff is an extinct volcano and has a number of unique rock features too see. We had some fun spotting the different types we had been told about, before watching the penguin colonies there. Brown Bluff has two penguin colonies – one of Gentoos and one of Adelies. We saw lots of chicks here as well, including some pretty large Adelie chicks (the fuzzy grey fluff balls in the photos)! For me, this day was one of the highlights – the combination of getting to stand on ACTUAL ANTARCTICA and seeing adorable chicks was magical!

After we finished up at Brown Bluff, we headed into the Antarctic Sound on our way to Snow Hill Island. We had been informed that we would attempt to make it there, where few cruise ships get to (due to the ice), as our ship was brand new, super ice ready and the conditions looked good! Snow Hill Island has the northern most Emperor Penguin colony and this would be our best change of seeing these giant penguins!

On the way to Snow Hill Island, we passed by the largest iceberg in the world – A-68. This iceberg is twice the size of Luxembourg and even from a distance it was HUGE! I can’t even imagine what it would be like to see it from the air! I was also lucky enough to see a Humpback Whale breaching in front of the iceberg, something which was on my Antarctica bucket list!

At about 10pm that evening, the boat stop and turned around. The way to Snow Hill Island was quite icy and our way back to the Antarctic Sound was also filling with ice! The Captain of the boat made the call to turn us around and head back to safe waters, to avoid us getting stuck. It was disappointing to not get to see the Emperor Penguins, but we ended up having a great day anyway!

The Plan B for Day 3 was to take the small boats, known as zodiacs, for a cruise around the Antarctic Sound. Whilst I thought at first this wouldn’t compare to seeing the Emperors, it was actually another highlight of the trip! We got to get right up close to the icebergs and sea ice (Raphael even filmed some underwater shots of the ice) and we saw some more Gentoo Penguins! When moving through the water they ‘porpoise’, meaning they jump out of the water and dive straight back in, like dolphins. It’s amazing to see, especially when you can see them under the water as well!

That night we heard a message over the tannoy to say there were some Humpbacks playing by the side of the ship. We looked out of the window and were lucky enough to catch them playing just 10 metres or so from our window! Amazing!

On Day 4 we landed at Danco Island. This would be our first time walking on the snow of Antarctica (the other places being mostly pebble beaches) and we had lots of fun using walking poles to climb up the hill here. It was super cold this day, but the views were stunning and we saw more penguins! I could never get bored of penguins, even if they are stinky and make noises like a donkey!

We had been told to wake up early on Day 5, as we would be passing through the Lemaire Channel. Cruise ships are often stopped here, due to the currents always bringing sea ice to one of the two ends. We were able to pass through it fair quickly (as I said before, our ship was a brand new super ice ship), but we could hear the ice clunking and scrapping against the hull as we did! Unfortunately, the ice and currents were two much for the zodiacs and we were unable to make our landing at Vernadsky Research Base, much to Raphael’s disappointment. The ice also prevented us from landing at the Plan B and Plan C sites, meaning we ended up cruising in Hidden Bay. It was a fun cruise, with beautiful, dramatic scenery. But very, very cold!

Even though we didn’t get to do Plan A, B or C, we did see some fantastic wildlife here. In the Lemaire Channel we saw Minke whales, a Leopard Seal and Orcas (so many bucket list!) We then saw another seal whilst cruising in the boats. It was a good wildlife day!

On our second to last day in Antarctica, we landed at Damoy Point. We had actually docked here the night before, as a group from our cruise went there to camp for the night (we had thought about going, but the cost was too much.) Damoy point was fun – we again walked on the snow and we got to see an old hut, built for scientific purposes, which a penguin colony has now overtaken! We saw lots more penguins, including a number using the penguin highways! It was fun to watch them waddle up and down the hill and we were actually prevented form returning to the ship for about 10 minutes due to penguin crossings!

For our last day in Antarctica (sad face), we visited Whaler’s Bay in Deception Island. The island is an active volcano and when landing you can see the hot air rising from the beach! This would be the place where we would be given the opportunity to take the polar plunge and swim in the sea! We first explored the island, seeing the abandoned buildings from when it was first a whaling station and then a British Research Base (before a volcanic eruption buried a number of buildings!) We also saw a number of Chinstrap Penguins, which are without a doubt my favourite kind of penguin. They look like little policemen!

After looking around, we dared to go in the water! It was freezing! More so than I had expected (water temperature: 3.3°C; air temperature: 1.4°C)! We waded in, dunked our shoulders under the water and ran out. My feet have never gone numb that fast before! It was fun though, and a number of the people on our ship went in.

And then that was the end of our time in Antarctica!

The journey back across the Drake Passage was worse than on the way and I did not have a fun Christmas Day at sea! However, the journey was worth it and I had the best time! We would go back to Antarctica in a heartbeat and have even (although not seriously) considered another trip whilst in Ushuaia next week!

We arrived in South America! And with that starts a new part of our journey: bye bye Pacific, hello South America… or… is it?

Landing on a continent

After having spent so much time on islands ranging from tiny to small, we landed in Santiago, a capital city in the middle of the Andes and it was a big change!

The host for our first accommodation picked us up at the airport and drove us to a nice apartment near the University of Chile. The neighbourhood is quite central. We like to explore new cities on foot and for that, Santiago is a treat: the architecture is varied, there are parks peppered out in the city, and it’s easy to find your way.

Visiting the city in two days

We walked to Moneda, the centre of Santiago. There are official government buildings and a lot of businesses. There is also a museum of pre-Columbian art which we visited. It had statues, tapestries, earthenware, metalware, etc. from the many civilisations that existed before the arrival of Europeans in South and Central America. We learned a lot about civilisations we didn’t even know existed.

We took the metro (which is very good and easy to use) to Costanera. It’s a very big mall but, more importantly for us, it has a tall office tower with an observation deck. We went to get a full panoramic view of Santiago, with the Andes in the background.

We also ate at Costanera with a friend from Hong Kong! She was in Santiago for business and it was a treat to see her.

We took the metro to the Cementerio General de Santiago. It is a huge cemetery, much larger that the ones we had already visited in Paris. The tombs ranged from a rectangle of stone in a long row of them, to whole mausoleums for entire families.

From there, we walked to the nearby fresh produce market. It’s a big, covered space with many stalls of colourful fruits. There are also some food stalls, ranging from carts selling fruit juices to small restaurants with seats. We ate at one of them and the waiter gave us some advice for more places to go and see.

We went to the Museum of Fine Arts. It was smaller in scale that we had anticipated, but it was still a pleasant visit. It had a wide range of era (from renaissance to contemporary) and medium (from paintings and sculptures to films and electronics).

We visited a few more places by just walking around, some nice neighbourhoods. But then it was time to go to our next stop:

Antarctica

Pippa will write a blog post about it in the next few days! But the trip started in Santiago where Hurtigruten, the company organising it, had set our rendez-vous.

After Antarctica, we arrived back in Santiago for a day.

Santiago again

During this second, short stay, we went to visit the park San Cristobal: a big hill in near the city centre. From the park entrance we took a funicular to the top. A lot of locals had gone up by bike and, considering the heat, we did not envy them!

We visited the top of the hill: the religious statue of Mary, the church, and the viewpoints. We then went by cable car to a different entrance of the park.

Afterwards, we got dinner at a brilliant pizzeria called Domani. It has the best Napolitan pizzas we’ve ever had outside of Naples. We also got to try the national drink: the Pisco Sour.

And onto Argentina

The day after, we got to the bus station: a busy place with coaches departing every few minutes. We found breakfast and we found our bus. Next stop: Mendoza!

We arrived on Easter Island, our final island in Polynesia (until May), exhausted! The time difference, combined with the short flight, combined with leaving Tahiti at 3am led to us both being shattered! After passing through immigration, we were met by the driver from our accommodation and were given a lei, our first of Polynesia! We were taken to the hotel and after getting some cash and lunch, we slept for a few hours.

On our second night in Easter Island we went to a Polynesian dance show. Rapa Nui was badly affected by colonisation, disease and the slave trade, with the native population being reduced to just 111 people in 1877. Because of this, many of the traditions and history of the Rapa Nui people disappeared. Over the last few decades, individuals on the island have been working hard to reclaim their traditions and to make sure the children of the island grow up knowing their history. They are taught how to sing traditional songs, perform traditional dances and carve moai. The show we saw was the result of one man’s mission to reconnect the people with their roots. It was a great show and we enjoyed the dancing a lot.

During our week on Rapa Nui, we did two rounds of the island. On the first day of exploring, we joined together with a Taiwanese couple (Sam and Agnes) to hire a car and zoom around the sites. The roads on the island are of variable quality and all hire cars are 4×4 (my first experience of driving one!) Our first stop was Orongo, one of the island’s extinct volcanos. There was a tradition in Rapa Nui during the 18th century to choose who the leader of the island would be. This took the form of a competition in which warriors would have to climb down to the sea from Orongo, swim to the islet of Motu Nui and collect the first egg of a specific bird, then swim back and present the egg to his clan’s leader (you can read more about it here). It was interesting to see the houses the warriors lived in before the competition as well as the carvings relating to the ‘birdman’.

After visiting a couple of minor sites, we went to the main quarry, where almost all of the moai were carved. There are still many moai in the quarry, in various stages of completion, with one unfinished moai being almost 22 metres tall! The quarry was, for me, the highlight of our visit. We got to see so many moai and we had a lot of fun taking silly pictures with them! I have wanted to come to Easter Island since I first learnt about it as a child, and the quarry more than lived up to expectations. I couldn’t stop grinning the whole time there!

There are many sites around the island which have moai, some of which have been restored to their upright position (all the moai were toppled over during clan warfare and due to earthquakes by 1868) and some which remain knocked over. The most impressive of these sights (in my opinion) is Ahu Tongariki, where 15 moai of various sizes stand side-by-side. It is a very impressive sight to see and we visited these moai three times during our stay! You can read more about the moai here.

Whilst on the island, we saw an OK sunset and an amazing sunrise! The weather on Easter Island is often cloudy and rainy, meaning conditions for sunrise/sunset do not always allow for pretty colours or even views of the sun! It was still nice to watch the sunset, even if it was too cloudy, however, getting up at 5:30am for the sunrise was 100% worth it!

Easter Island is an amazing place and we had such a great time there. If you are thinking of going and want to know more about budgeting or anything, let us know!

We arrived in French Polynesia: a place where all the other tourists are on their honeymoon! We had high expectations –maybe because of all the times we’d heard the name and seen pictures of Tahiti– and neither Pippa nor I were disappointed.

We only visited the “îles de la société” and the “îles sous le vent”: all island close to Tahiti. There are other groups of islands but we couldn’t visit them all… Maybe we will come back?

Tahiti

We flew into Tahiti, the main island of French Polynesia, where the only international airport is located, along with all the government offices. We got a car and went around the island, stopping for a waterfall, a black-sand beach, a historical building, a belvedere (viewpoint), etc. Tahiti is mostly a short stop on our way to other islands nearby.

Even though we are moving East, the rainy season is moving as well. And it is catching up with us: we escaped several intense showers.

Moorea

Moorea is Tahiti’s neighbour: you can see each island from the other. There as well, we had some rain, but we had enough sunny days so it was ok.

We went snorkelling in the lagoonarium: a coral reef with ropes set in the water so you can move easily despite the strong current. The water was warm and clear. We also saw sharks and sting-rays.

The mountains in Moorea (and in the rest of the îles sous le vent) are beautiful. We went to a viewpoint halfway up from a bay. It was visually stunning.

Moorea has a fruit juice factory. They don’t have grapes to press, but that didn’t stop them from making wine: pineapple wine! It’s actual wine made by pressing a fruit, letting it ferment on the moût and all the other wine-making techniques, but it’s made from pineapple rather than grapes. We got a sampler: a small bottle of each of their wines: a moelleux, a dry, and a fizzy. It was good.

Tahaa

On our way to Tahaa, our plane made a refuelling stop in Bora-Bora. We got off the plane, had a very quick look at the lagoon, and boarded the plane again.

On Tahaa we stayed at a pension with a very welcoming host. She showed us the garden and the many plants growing there. We got to try several of the fruits (soursop is delicious!) and use some herbs for cooking.

We rented bicycles for the day and went around the island. On this tour, we first visited a vanilla farm. We saw some flowers (they are a type of orchid) and beans (they do look like green beans) as well as some production techniques (how the beans are dried, grounded, etc.)

Afterwards, we visited a pearl farm. We were able to see pearls harvested from within the oysters. Tahiti pearls are dark with very varied colours.

Finally, we visited a rum distillery, seeing the press, the vats, the still, etc., and tasting the rums!

Raiatea

Raiatea is a short boat ride away from Tahaa. Once there, we got our car from the rental company and we headed to our pension. We then went around the island. The main highlight was a very well preserved Marae: a traditional Polynesian stone construction that was used for ceremonial purpose.

The next day we went to the Three Waterfalls (Les trois cascades), a hike halfway up the mountain. It was very hot and we almost gave up when we lost the path and had to backtrack multiple times. But we made it to the end and got to swim in the pool of the topmost waterfall. Two very chill dogs from our pension followed us all the way and back, happy to have a few humans to follow for a walk.

Huahine

Huahine was our last stop, and it was also where we went for a treat: we spent two nights in an over-water bungalow.

We made most the of the fact that the ladder from our bungalow went straight into the sea by going snorkelling several times a day. We saw a lot of fish and other sea creatures: parrot-fish, angel-fish, eagle-ray, nudibranch, etc. And at one point Pippa even spotted a stone-fish –which is pretty difficult to spot because it looks just like a stone.

Afterwards, we went to a different accommodation on the same island. We rented a car and went all around Huahine which is actually made of two islands (Huahine Nui and Huahine Iti) very close together. We enjoyed the views of the mountains and the views of the lagoon. We stopped to see a Marae. And we also stopped to see the blue-eyed sacred eels: a bed of fresh-water eels living in a river on the East coast of the island.

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We then stopped at an abandoned, half-constructed hotel. The construction stopped because of some financial crisis, and the half-developed beach is a favourite hangout space for teenagers and a great spot for snorkelling.

Tahiti again, and away

We are back in Tahiti now, we have to take a flight from the international airport. We liked French Polynesia a lot. It is, in fact, just as stunning as the internet made it out to be.

Next stop: Easter Island!

We only spent a week on the Cook Islands, staying on the main island of Rarotonga. We weren’t super lucky with the weather there (it’s the start of the rainy season), but we still had a great time.

Our adventure started by crossing the international date line and arriving the day before we had left New Zealand! Having left at 5pm on Saturday 9th November and arriving at 10pm on Friday 8th November was a bit strange, but it only took us a couple of days to get used to it (although I’m still struggling with the time difference to the UK!). As we arrived at the airport, we were serenaded by a Polynesian band, welcoming us to the island! (We were also serenaded as we boarded our flight to leave!)

Rarotonga is a tiny island (the road around it is only 32km), so we only had a short drive from the airport to our accommodation (a lovely bungalow, with a view of the nearby mountain). We drove round the whole island a couple of times, once through some pretty bad flooding!

As the weather was a bit ‘meh’ and I wasn’t feeling great for the whole week, we limited our activities quite a bit, mostly resting at the bungalow or by the pool. On one of the days we decided to hike up the Raemaru trek, to Mount Raemaru. We were advised that it would take about 1h30 return, but it ended up taking us almost 2h30, due to the rain! The hike was hard, and hot, and wet, but worth it! At one point we had to climb up a vertical rock face, using metal pegs and a rope! But we made it to the top and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

The highlight of Rarotonga for me was the Te Vara Nui Village tour and Island Night. The village was purpose built to inform visitors of the history and culture of the indigenous people. The tour was really interesting, and we learnt about the medicines they used, the clothes they wore and had an excellent coconut opening demonstration! After the tour, we had a fabulous buffet dinner, including many traditional foods followed by the show!

The show was amazing! We saw all kinds of dancing (including fire dancing) as the performers told the story of how one of the ancestors of the the Rarotongan people came to the island and negotiated with the chief of the island. The show involved boats, fire and the most impressive and energetic dancing! It was the best cultural show we’ve seen so far!

The rest of our time on the island was spent snorkelling at various locations. We bought a GoPro in New Zealand (to have a better underwater camera) and we had lots of fun trying it out. We saw some cool fish and some nice coral and enjoyed our time in the lagoon.

Whilst our time in the Cook Islands was short, it was definitely sweet. We enjoyed our time there and would recommend Rarotonga to anyone looking for a Polynesian/tropical experience with the amenities of New Zealand!

Pippa has visited New Zealand in the past, but it’s the first time for me. We didn’t stay very long, but we still managed to see some interesting things.

Auckland

The morning after we landed, we went to the city centre of Auckland and got on a free walking tour. We were shown old buildings (of which Auckland has few), new buildings, street art (of which Auckland has a lot), and parks. The guide gave a lot of advice and local knowledge: which restaurant to eat at, which bar to drink at, and which public toilet to use.

In the evening, we went to a hot pot restaurant because we miss our Shanghai dining habits!

Rotorua

The day after, we picked up our rental car and drove down 3 hours to Rotorua. Rotorua is a city on the shore of a lake that is also an extinct supervolcano’s crater. The whole city is sitting on a geothermally active area which makes it famous for its permanent sulphur stench but also its hot springs.

On our first evening there, we went to the hot springs. There were pools of varying chemical composition (some were green and acidic, others were blue and alkaline) and temperature (some were too hot for me!). The sun set and we stayed a bit longer looking at some stars.

The next day we went to Kuirau park, a public park in the middle of town. The park has lawns and trees like any other park. It also has puddles of boiling mud (where sulphurous gases escape from the ground in gurgling eruptions). It also has a lake hot enough that steam rises from it dramatically. It also has footbaths: pools of hot water with a ledge around to sit on. It was a very pleasant park and we had the footbaths to ourselves for a while.

Waitomo

From Rotorua we drove to the Waitomo caves. The driving and the visit was a whole-day trip but the beautiful caves were worth it. The first cave we visited, Aranui, had a lot of very pretty features: stalactites, stalagmites, drapes, straws, etc. Many of the features had been given names and with a stretch of the imagination you could very well see “the mosque” (with a nascent large stalagmite as the dome and a tall thin stalagmite as the minaret), “the old ladies” (with a pillar as the walking stick), etc.

We then went to a second cave in the area: the Waitomo cave. This cave has a large population of glow worms. They hang onto the ceiling and attract their food (various insects) by shinning a blue light. It was very beautiful, looking a bit like a night sky. The visit of the cave ended by a boat ride in near darkness: the glow worms were shining blue lights.

We then went to a third and final cave: Ruakuri. For this cave we went through an artificial entrance that bypasses the natural entrance which is a sacred place where a Maori chief was buried. The cave was much bigger than the other two, and it had a lot of different areas with different features. And there also were glow worms albeit not as many.

Hobbiton

On the way back to Auckland, we stopped at Hobbiton, the movie set for the Lord of the Ring and the Hobbit movies. There are rolling hills with small round doors, and flowers and vegetable patches, and the green dragon inn, and a lot more to see there. We had a lot of fun and we took a lot of photos! Our guide for the tour gave funny anecdotes about the shooting like when they had to move frogs from a pond because they were too noisy.

We ended the tour at the green dragon inn, just over the bridge from the mill. There’s Hobbit music playing (which is very similar to Celtic folk music) and drinks to be had (cider, ale, stout, or ginger beer).

Auckland again

We went back to Auckland, encountered a lot of traffic, managed to return the rental car in time, headed to our hostel, encountered a bug in the booking system, headed to a different hostel that actually had our booking, and we had another hot pot. We mostly bought food from the supermarket and cooked at the hostel in Rotorua, so we decided to splurge a bit to get one last Chinese dinner.

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We are going to the Cook Islands next. That’s across the international date line from New Zealand which makes it harder to count days.